Book Review - Shatter Me

 

Title: Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Series: Shatter Me (Book 1)

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: 15th November 2011

ISBN13: 9780062085504

 Synopsis

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I'm more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war—and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

 My Review

I heard some good things about this series years ago but never got round to reading them. Then last year I was in my local discount book store and they had a 4 book boxset for £10, as it was near my birthday, the friend that was with me picked them up and bought them for me. They have remained on my shelves ever since. However one of my new year's resolutions was to start reading more again - i used to read 200 books a year and now I'm lucky if i hit 35 books, so I am trying to read more and wanted something that I could get lost in - so I turned to these books.

Apart from knowing it is a YA Dystopian style fiction, I didn't really have much knowledge about this book, but the blurb sounded intriguing so I got stuck in. We meet Juliette, a young 17 year old who is being held in a prison, though i think it's actually an asylum, either way she is locked in a room and hasn't spoken to anybody or touched anyone for the best part of a year. It is unclear why she is in there at first which I actually really liked, it made it more of a mystery. Then things start to change, she is given a cellmate - a boy named Adam, whom she immediately recognizes but doesn't want to talk to. She is afraid and unsure and quite convinced that she is going mad, just like everyone said she was. But then the leader of the Reestablishment summons Juliette- they think she can be used for a weapon and Warner - the leader of one division makes it his mission to get her onside. Juliette has to chose whether to be a weapon or fight for her freedom.

I actually found this book really easy to read at first, I found I liked her writing style. As Juliette is frantic in her thoughts, she crosses bits of her writing out and sometimes repeats herself, i actually didn't mind this and it didn't slow me down at all. As she starts to come to terms with her situation more, the writing calms down. I don't mind Juliette as a character, she is feisty and not afraid to put her foot in it but she is passionate and knows the difference between right and wrong. 

Adam was a bit of a mystery to me, I wasn't sure whether or not to trust him for most of the book, I kept expecting something to happen that would rock the boat and reveal maybe a darker side, plenty of stuff happens and the boat gets rocked, but not in the way I thought. I still don't care all that much for Adam but I am interested in the future of him and Juliette and glad he is around for the next book.

Warner is a creep. That's all you need to know, didn't like him, not supposed to, just a slimeball really. But I don't hate him enough to care about what happens to him - maybe he will develop a bit more in the next book.

Overall the story is interesting and there are enough twists and turns to keep you interested, the concept is set up well enough to seem believable which helps you to get lost in the reading. I wouldn't say it's the best Dystopian I had ever read but I did finish it in 2 short sittings and I want to read the next one, so there are definitely quite strong positives. Definitely worth a try.

 

My Rating